So I have recently been stopping at McD's a few times lately enjoying their salad. I thought the world we live in recycles? This is their 9 inch diameter salad dish with cover that goes in the garbage!! Multiply that by a few million...... I think I'm going to send a nasty letter after I go fishing this week. Does ANY McD's recycle these???!!!!!! That's a lot of plastic!

and a lot of people think all the plastic crap they throw in their recycle bin gets recycled but it really doesnt, if you check with whoever is picking your stuff up and compare what they actually process with the little number in the center of the recycle symbol on the plastic item you are throwing in the bin you may find out you are causing them a lot more work sorting.

Quoted straight from the waste management site:

Logos can mislead. In 1988, the plastics industry introduced logos and numbers for plastics used in packaging (see box). The stated intent was to make it easier to identify plastics for recycling. Not surprisingly, some consumers see the familiar "chasing-arrows" recycling logo on a plastic item and assume they can recycle it. But many plastics emblazoned with the logo — such as big chunks of polystyrene (Styrofoam) packing material or lids for plastic containers — are not accepted by residential recycling programs, due to high processing costs and lack of markets.

Just be glad you aren't living in Germany. My buddy lived there for a couple of years, what they actually threw away as about the size of a woman's make-up bag. They had to sort everything! If they missed something, they were fined a hefty fee.

Think of all the chemicals that we put on our lawns to make them greener. Where does that go? Eventually right into the river systems.

Hey, someone will invent a new kind of "plastic washer", then they could reuse them.

Salmo, are you saying that people who believe in recycling don't eat at McDonald's? I'm certainly no expert at statistics, but given the sheer number of people worldwide who eat at McDonald's, I'd be really hard pressed to believe that to be reality.

No, I'm saying that people for whom recycling is a priority either don't patronize MckDonald's at all or at least not very much. There is a distinction between that and what you asked if I was saying. I think the sheer numbers of people who do patronize McDonald's is strong evidence that the customer base prioritizes cheap food over both good food and recycling.